Cincinnati owner of Richie's restaurants Richard Bhoolai indicted on tax fraud charges
The owner of the Cincinnati restaurant chain Richie's has been indicted on charges of tax fraud. The fraud allegedly helped fund more than $1 million in gambling activity.
The owner of an established Cincinnati restaurant chain was indicted for tax fraud, which allegedly funded over $1 million of gambling activities.
According to a press release issued by the IRS' Cincinnati office, Richard Bhoolai was arrested on April 29, 2013 by deputies from the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, in coordination with the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Division.
According to court documents, Bhoolai’s business failed to report quarterly payroll taxes and file employment tax returns from the fourth of 2016 to the fourth of 2018. It also failed to transmit the taxes collected to the IRS. Bhoolai, as the sole owner of the business, was responsible for collecting, accounting and paying over the taxes.
According to the release, during this time, 'it's alleged that Bhoolai induced Richie's Fast Food Restaurants, Inc. to incur hundreds of thousands in expenditures for personal gain, including gambling activities in excess of one million dollars'.
A willful failure to collect tax or pay it over can result in a maximum of five years imprisonment and an up to $250,000 fine.
On May 1, Kenneth Parker, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio and Bryant Jackson Special Agent in Charge with the IRS Criminal Investigation Division's Cincinnati Field Office, announced the arrest and indictment.
Assistant U.S. attorney Ebunoluwa Taiwo is prosecuting the case.